This week in class we delved a little deeper into our understanding of STEAM, the music class and drama class today demonstrated STEAM in action.

Previous to starting this module I thought anyone that said STEAM was mispronouncing STEM, which was a term I was more familiar with.  Looking back now it makes sense why my school placement last year always said STEAM and not STEM.  Who was I to correct them and I am very thankful that I didn’t as I know and understand what STEAM is and why they said it.

In music today I was in the mac lab, here we had the oppertunity to use the apple application ‘Garage Band’, this gave me the oppertunity to make music, I do not know how to play any musical instruments so by using this application I was able to make a potential backing track to a song.

Today I was working alone however the application shows many ways in which collaborative and autonomous creations can be made. Gaskins, 2016 states that ‘technical skills are gained through casual use of technologies and through networks of informal apprenticeships where peers demonstrate their techniques to each other’.

What I have taken from this is that while it is good to work alone and find your creative flow, collaborating with peers for support, mentoring, ideas and development can also bring together new life to a project.

By integrating this type of technology with art, it allowed me to experience the joy and satisfaction that a musician may experience when writing music and playing an instrument or two thus giving me confidence, self esteem and a sense of achievement (Marshall, 2014).

The drama class also used technology, this time in the form of imagery and sounds.  The theme chosen was a haunted house therefor our class lecturer played spooky music to play with out emotions and senses, there was also a spooky haunted house image on the smart board for us to reference to should we need it for inspiration.

Adding to the effects the lights were turned off and I really got a feel for the spooky setting needed for our short performance and all without being live on stage in an audience packed theatre.

I found the information posted below to be very interesting and proves to me while I read about STEAM that integrating arts in education is something that must happen. As I find myself out on placement and seeing STEM everywhere, I will do my up most to discuss STEAM wherever I go.

What Do Students Think of STEAM Lab?

Of the students surveyed about their STEAM lab activities:

• 75% learned and used new skills to achieve an outcome.
• Over 90% said that learning to use previously unfamiliar equipment was a good way to explore a class subject.
• 60% indicated that they would like to deepen their investigation of a STEAM subject and explore its utility.
• 70% reported increased attention, defined as “curiosity and interest.”
• 68% reported an increased sense of relevance, defined as “linking learner needs, interests, and motives.”
• 67% felt increased levels of confidence, defined as “developing positive expectations for success.”

(Gaskins, 2016)

References

Education Scotland. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers [Accessed: 20 October 2018].

Gaskins, N. (2016) The New Face of STEAM. [Online] Available: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/the-new-face-of-steam-nettrice-gaskins [Accessed: 5 November 2018].

Marshall, J. (2014) Transforming education through art-centred integrated learning. [Online] Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/45649/mod_resource/content/1/Transforming%20education%20through%20art-centred%20integrated%20learning.pdf [Accessed: 5 November 2018].

Pixabay, (N.D) [Online] Available: https://pixabay.com/en/villa-house-gloomy-dark-old-villa-3237114/ [Accessed: 05 November 2018].

Youtube, (2018) Spooky Music – Shadow Acrobats. [Online] Available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfzHJ6ofNLY  [Accessed: 5 November 2018].